CA11: Officer denied qualified immunity for slamming passive arrestee to pavement

“We have repeatedly ruled that a police officer violates the Fourth Amendment, and is denied qualified immunity, if he or she uses gratuitous and excessive force against a suspect who is under control, not resisting, and obeying commands. See, e.g., Priester v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, 208 F.3d 919, 927 (11th Cir. 2000); Slicker v. Jackson, 215 F.3d 1225, 1233 (11th Cir. 2000); Lee v. Ferraro, 284 F.3d 1188, 1198 (11th Cir. 2002). Consistent with these decisions, we hold today that Oberist Saunders, who alleged that his head was ‘slammed’ against the pavement with ‘extreme force’ after he had been handcuffed and was lying prone on the ground, stated a valid Fourth Amendment claim for excessive force, and that the defendants—agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation—were not entitled to qualified immunity. We therefore reverse the district court’s dismissal of Mr. Saunders’ Fourth Amendment claim.” Saunders v. Duke, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 17334 (11th Cir. September 8, 2014).